Saturday, 23 December 2017

Operation Restore Legacy was timely as it placated
potential anarchy in Zimbabwe and no human rights violations were reported, a
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission official has said.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, the Commission’s
Chairperson Mr Elasto Mugwadi said Zanu-PF intra-fighting, which spewed results
in expulsions from the ruling party and Government, had pushed the citizenry to
the brink of despondency.

Mr Mugwadi said the military’s popular political and
socio-economic intervention tamed the fast-spiralling situation and set the
country on a new trajectory.

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces rolled out the operation from
November 13 to December 18, 2017 to weed out a clique around former President
Robert Mugabe which fomented instability and fuelled widespread angst.

The intervention saw Cde Mugabe step down on November 21
and President Emmerson Mnangagwa ascend to the top job.

Mr Mugwadi said: “We haven’t received any complaints, but
from a human rights point of view, our own observation is that this
intervention was timely. There was a lot of alarm and despondency on the part
of the people in terms of not knowing where they were going.

“People could be fired from Government and political
positions willy-nilly. So, that aura of uncertainty was removed by this
intervention. But, of course, you would expect that normalcy be maintained by
ensuring that everything goes back to civilian control of Government
institutions.

“We are happy with the handing over of patrol duties back
to the police, which is one issue we had recommended to authorities.

‘‘We said the intervention measures should have a timeline
and we are happy that the announcement was made by the new Commander of the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces (General Phillip Valerio Sibanda) stating that the
police would now be back doing their policing work in terms of their
constitutional mandate and client charter.”

Mr Mugwadi warned police against violating human rights by
over-extending their mandate, and encouraged Government to continue
guaranteeing constitutional rights.

“To the police, we urge them to heed recommendations of the
generality of the public. The people they are meant to protect are complaining
that there has been heavy-handedness by the police in dealing with situations
and issues.

“We are saying the police should be the people’s police
force and that is expected of the police anyway in terms of their mandate.

‘‘Anything extraneous to their mandate is unacceptable and
it will be violating the people’s rights.

“I am also happy with President Emmerson Mnangagwa who, in
his inauguration speech, said Government was going to respect human rights, the
rule of law and democratic principles. These are issues we have always been
harping on about and continue to monitor.”